As temperatures slowly climbed above freezing, I ventured out yesterday to view scenes of the wintry landscape left by that Polar Vortex storm everyone was talking about last week. I was hoping that a thaw would be in full force, but everything still looked cold and encrusted in ice. The first place I went to was Sandy Hook, a barrier island in New Jersey facing New York City across Raritan Bay.

View of Sandy Hook Bay.

View of Sandy Hook shoreline, with an empty Osprey nest on the right.

View of Sandy Hook shoreline.

There were hardly any bird, just a few lonely gulls and three Sanderlings.

Sanderlings.

I drove around the old Fort Hancock, an abandoned Army fort, at the tip of Sandy Hook island.

Sandy Hook Lighthouse. It is the oldest working lighthouse in the United States.

There were some antique cannons, the biggest one shown below, and two Cold War era missiles.

Old cannon a Fort Hancock.

Cold War era missiles.

Leaving Sandy Hook I went to my familiar haunt, the Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. All the ponds there were frozen as well, and snow had fallen the previous day.

Hello Mr Hien,
As always, thank you for sharing such beautiful views. The extreme weather in the US has been making the news here too, and it does indeed look very cold…. The sanderlings running across the sand is one of my favourites, along with the snow covered marsh at Edwin B Forsythe NWR. Hope you are staying safe and warm.

Really liked seeing these wintry scenes, Hien. So frigid, with almost all wildlife tucked in out of the frozen surroundings. I especially liked the first photo and the last one, but also liked the sanderlings on the move, the lighthouse, and the cannon. Such big cannonballs. Great post, thanks very much.